DC3 Dakota: the third aircraft to join the Indian Air Forces's vintage flight.

DC3 Dakota: the third aircraft to join the Indian Air Forces’s vintage flight.

DC3 Dakota was gifted to the IAF by the Hon’ble Member of Parliament and industrialist Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar. The aircraft has been fully restored to its original glory and is set to begin its flight back to India on Monday.

The ac now bears the tail number VP 905 and called ‘Parashurama’. The tail number VP 905 is significant. It is the same tail number as the first DC-3 of the IAF which transported troops of the army’s 1st Sikh regiment to Srinagar on 27 October 1947 in the J&K operations.

Deputy High Commissioner of India to the U.K., Mr. Dinesh K. Patnaik, Air Commodore Anil Sabharwal and senior members of the Royal Air Force were among those present at RAF Benson for the ceremony. Mr. Patnaik, in his address, said that the aircraft’s joining the IAF is a symbol of the strong collaboration between the two Air Forces ranging from the vintage to the most modern technologies.